yes, I don’t like Mondays.
Specifically, Mondays where it takes me over Two and a Half hours to drive home from work.
IT’S SNOW PEOPLE! THIS IS MINNESOTA! DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!!!
There, I feel much better now.
After one and a half hours, I had managed to get from Bloomington, to downtown Minneapolis, where I exited the freeway, and took to the city streets.
Big mistake.
Stuck on 5th Ave.
It was gridlock heading west or north. Eventually I decided it was better to drive in the opposite direction, than to sit parked behind a bus pointing in the right direction.
45 minutes, and 4 blocks later...
So I decided to try the Zen approach to getting home. I took whatever paths the traffic offered me, and just went with the flow. Yan instead of Yin, non-being instead of being, wax-off instead of wax-on. And you know what? It worked.
It really can be a beautiful place, once you let go of the rage.
Within 15 minutes I had found my way onto West River Road, where I drove under the bridges that led where I needed to go, and instead I followed the river North into the industrial wasteland of near North Minneapolis. There I was able to find my way across the river on the Broadway Avenue Bridge.
Not since Washington crossed the Delaware has a river crossing been so pivotal.
Once the last natural barrier between me and home had been removed it was just a matter of time to pick my way through NorthEast Minneapolis to my home.
Crossing the Mississippi at last
Have I told you that I love NorthEast? Yeah, I guess I have…
This place reminds me so much of the old ethnic neighborhoods in Buffalo. Little Mom & Pop bars on every corner, humble old houses standing shoulder to shoulder, like workmen walking through the factory gate.
As I have mentioned before, this is my vision of heaven.
Is there a more inviting sight than a warm bar on a winter evening?
These places looked so warm and inviting, I was tempted to pull over and take a break from driving.
But I had promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep.
20 Prospect 
I can so relate to this! In Kentucky, 1/2 inch is somehow equal to Apocalypse. Everyone stops and waits for the other horsement. He Who Loves All Things Wicked once called while I was on my way home on a particularly bad night, when he asked where I had made it to and I told him, he blew a gasket, as I was not in a part of Louisville one would want a dainty flower like myself getting stuck in. I was like, “Yes, but all of the other people are avoiding this neighborhood, which makes it the only one I am able to pass through.” Sure enough, I made it home, safe, sound and 20 minutes faster than if I had gone the usual route. Ugh!
That’s the BEST time to be driving in the Ghetto. No one is out wilding, and car jacking when it’s that friggin’ cold.
TELL ME WHY I don’t like Mondays. TELL ME WHY I don’t like Mondays. It was stuck in my head so I thought it should be stuck in yours, too. You are welcome.
and he can see no reasons,
because there are no reasons,
what reasons do you need to be shown?
This reads like a slow winding descent into a wintery white madness, where you drive endlessly in the same circle, past the same bar, with the same results.
Eventually you stop at that warm inviting watering hole only to be told YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE.
Wait, no.
That’s the Hotel California.
all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy
all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy
all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy
all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy
wait, no.
That’s the Stanley Hotel
Loved this post. Especially with the snow application falling from the tippy top of your blog. It reminded me of those make your own adventure stories, where you, the reader, can decide which road to take. P.S. You’re a good man for not stopping.
I always felt compelled to read EVERY scenario in those books. Thankfully, I did not feel compelled to try every road home.
You’d find it hilarious if you saw Houston in snow. It happens so rarely that if we get a quarter inch people can’t drive at ALL! I so wish I were joking.
Are you telling me that people in Houston can drive when it’s not snowing? That’s what’s great about the Interwebz, I learn new things every day.
it reminds me so much of binghamton, too. the problem is i would go into that mom and pop bar and never leave. and i don’t look anywhere near as good as faye dunaway as a barfly.
Thankfully, I couldn’t pass for Mickey Rourke either.